Orlando Jorge Mera visited the natural monuments of Las Dunas de Ban, El Manaclar and El Manaclar with a large delegation from the Ministry of the Environment. EXTERNAL SOURCE
Commitment. The Minister for the Environment has committed that no materials will be extracted from the Las Dunas Natural Monument and that he will be the guardian to all the protected areas of this country.
Ban, Peravia. DR
The Minister for Environment Orlando Jorge Mera visited Las Dunas de Las Calderas, a natural monument, for the third consecutive time. He assured that he was there to mark a new beginning.
This is because on this occasion, Minister and his staff began to take final measures to further protect the natural landmark with the installation guardhouses or sendry boxes to control access at the sand extraction points discovered in the recent Operation Las Dunas.
“For years, mafias have commercialized illegal sand from the protected area Las Dunas de Las Calderas, in Ban. This administration has decided to end this practice and bring to justice those who have caused harm to the environment. There will be no environmental impunity”, said the official before several media.
The Minister reported that he inspected the areas affected by the so-called ‘Sand Mafia,’ which is illegally exploiting not only Las Dunas (unique in the Caribbean region and Central America), but also the beach of Paya, in the east of Ban, and the rivers of the province.
Another visit
The official also visited El Manaclar’s Luis Quinn National Park in El Manaclar (northern Ban), where a forest fire had ravaged the park for nearly a week. He made a commitment to Marleni Nez, its administrator, to give more resources to the rangers to help them protect the area.
He also promised to establish a forest-fire department in Ban.
Jorge Mera visited the national park after which he went to Los Yaguarizos in the La Montera area. There he met with community members, agricultural producers, and El Manaclar and El Recodo.
“I had a pending debt to come here not only because of the beauty of the Luis Quinn Park, but also because in the last few weeks we have taken action against situations that have been going on for many years without taking the corrective measures that correspond, which is to apply Law 64-00 in the province of Peravia,” he said.
Flix Peguero from Banilejo was a political, community and business leader. He thanked Minister for his visit and for fulfilling his promise to El Manaclar.
They again requested permission from the Ministry of the Environment to build roads for their agricultural products. Also, to enforce Law 64-00 throughout the area. After consulting the technicians in this portfolio, the Minister promised to review the request for environmental permits and provide an answer as soon possible.
Juan Tejeda (president of the Tourism and Production Cluster in Ban) took the opportunity to remind the Minister about the Co-Management Plan Las Dunas that the Cluster had proposed to the ministry. It is still in the study phase and could help to prevent the invasion of predators to this vital natural resource.
